F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) Issues FY 2026 Earnings Guidance

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) issued an update on its FY 2026 earnings guidance on Monday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 17.210-17.330 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 15.750. The company issued revenue guidance of $3.4 billion-$3.4 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $3.3 billion. F5 also updated its Q4 2026 guidance to 4.140-4.260 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FFIV shares. Zacks Research downgraded shares of F5 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of F5 in a report on Friday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on F5 from $380.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore upgraded F5 from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $475.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of F5 in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $408.67.

F5 Price Performance

NASDAQ FFIV opened at $403.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.12, a PEG ratio of 4.78 and a beta of 1.03. F5 has a 1-year low of $223.76 and a 1-year high of $435.00. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $401.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $331.76.

F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The network technology company reported $4.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.00 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $865.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $834.60 million. F5 had a return on equity of 21.94% and a net margin of 21.95%.F5’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.16 earnings per share. F5 has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 4.140-4.260 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 17.210-17.330 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that F5 will post 12.78 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Elizabeth Buse sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $399.35, for a total transaction of $399,350.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,947 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,975,584.45. This represents a 16.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Francois Locoh-Donou sold 3,783 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.39, for a total value of $1,276,346.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 146,989 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,592,618.71. This trade represents a 2.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,579 shares of company stock worth $7,836,860. 0.48% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

F5 News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting F5 this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong Q3 results: F5 reported adjusted EPS of $4.73, above the $4.00 consensus, while revenue rose 10.9% year over year to $865.1 million, exceeding expectations of $834.6 million. Product revenue increased 19%, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit product growth. F5 Reports Third Quarter Results with 19% Product Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Higher guidance: Management raised its fiscal 2026 outlook, forecasting EPS of $17.21–$17.33 and revenue of approximately $3.4 billion. Fourth-quarter guidance of $4.14–$4.26 EPS and $870–$890 million in revenue also exceeds consensus estimates. The company cited strong cybersecurity demand, hybrid multicloud adoption and application-security growth. F5 raises annual revenue growth forecast
• Positive Sentiment: AI expansion: F5 plans to acquire CalypsoAI to add advanced AI guardrails for large enterprises, potentially strengthening its position in securing AI applications and APIs. F5 to Acquire CalypsoAI
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst reactions are mixed: JPMorgan raised its target to $515 and kept an overweight rating, while Morgan Stanley lifted its target to $415 but maintained equal weight. Barclays raised its target to $397 and also kept equal weight. The reported average target of $382.67 remains below the current share price.
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and margins temper enthusiasm: With F5 trading near its 52-week high and at roughly 32 times earnings, investors may be taking profits. Coverage has also highlighted a cautious margin outlook, making the shares sensitive to any evidence that elevated AI and product investment could limit earnings expansion. F5 Lifts 2026 Outlook As Valuation Questions Come Into Focus

Institutional Trading of F5

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in F5 by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 153 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in F5 by 288.1% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 163 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new position in F5 in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,000. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in F5 in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $100,000. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in F5 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $116,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.66% of the company’s stock.

About F5

F5 Inc (NASDAQ:FFIV) specializes in application services and delivery networking, helping organizations ensure the availability, performance and security of their applications. The company’s core offerings include advanced load balancing, traffic management and application security solutions designed to optimize user experiences and protect against threats such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and web application exploits.

At the heart of F5’s product portfolio is the BIG-IP platform, which provides a suite of software modules for local and global traffic management, secure web application firewalling and DNS service delivery.